Dogs, dead people get election docs from not-for-profit

Sunday, July 15, 2012

By Mike Baker ~ The Associated Press

In this photo taken Wednesday, July 11, 2012, Brenda Charlston holds a photo of her long-deceased dog, Rosie, and a voter registration form for "Rosie Charlston" that arrived in the mail for the canine last month in Seattle. Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998. A left-leaning group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults. But residents and election administrators around the country have also reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people and people already registered to vote. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) -- The voter registration form arrived in the mail last month with some key information already filled in: Rosie Charlston's name was complete, as was her Seattle address.

Problem is, Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998.

A group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults.

But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, noncitizens and people already registered to vote.

Brenda Charlston wasn't the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers.

Every presidential election cycle brings with it a variety of registration drives targeting people who typically are underrepresented at the polls, and Republicans have long seized on sloppy or questionable registrations as a sign of potential fraud on the part of Democrats.

It's an issue that is particularly sensitive this year. GOP political leaders have used fears of fraud to successfully push laws across the country that could make voting more difficult by requiring voters to show identification. Democrats have fought the laws, arguing that they can disenfranchise citizens, minorities in particular.

The group at the root of the questionable mailings -- the Voter Participation Center -- acknowledges that the databases it uses to contact possible voters are imperfect because they are developed from commercially collected information. The group also says it expects people who receive misdirected mail to simply throw it away.

Several election officials said they believed the voter registration systems were secure enough to catch people who might improperly submit the misdirected documents, since registrants typically have to furnish ID and election managers use databases -- such as death records -- to see if someone should be disallowed.

But administrators in New Mexico, a potential swing state in the presidential race, warned that ineligible voters who complete the documents could make it onto the rolls.

New Mexico is one of two states in which noncitizens can qualify for a driver's license by simply proving residency -- not necessarily legal residency -- and state elections officials have no way of verifying the legal status of those who file registration documents.

Ken Ortiz, the chief of staff at the New Mexico secretary of state's office, said some noncitizens have contacted the state asking why they received the forms when they'd previously been told that they could not vote.

"We fear that some of these individuals who receive this mailing may feel that they are being encouraged to vote by our office or county government," Ortiz said.

The mailings appear official, arriving in privacy envelopes with the headline "VOTER REGISTRATION DOCUMENTS ENCLOSED." Some information is already completed on the voter registration papers, and recipients also get an envelope to send completed forms to local elections officials.

Election leaders in Florida, another major swing state, also said they were receiving complaints about applications going to dead people, noncitizens, minors and pets.

The Voter Participation Center works with a vendor that has access to multiple commercial databases that could include people who subscribe to magazines or junk mail using names of their pet, said Page Gardner, the group's president. She said the not-for-profit tries its best to target only eligible and unregistered voters but that some other names inevitably get on the final list.

"Is it a perfect process? No," Gardner said. Ultimately, she said they rely on the integrity of people and the security of the system and notes that the same forms are available to anyone at county offices or on the Internet.

The Voter Participation Center says it is trying to increase participation among minorities, unmarried women and people under the age of 30, with Gardner saying that those groups have historically been underrepresented in the election process. Gardner said it has helped register 1 million people since 2004 and some 300,000 people in the current election cycle.

Election leaders in Florida, another major swing state, said they received at least 8,000 forms initiated by the center in recent weeks. They also complained about some applications going to dead people, noncitizens, minors and pets.

Formed as a nonpartisan not-for-profit, the organization has worked recently to produce reports alongside the liberal Center for American Progress. IRS filings show the group -- formerly known as Women's Voices. Women Vote -- raised and spent about $5 million during 2010, the most recent year available. Individual financial supporters are not identified in the documents.

The center conducted one mailing distribution last year and another earlier this year before its biggest mailing, which went out in June. It is planning one more for later this year.

Voter registration drives of all types can create a small subset of problems. An active voter, for example, may sign up again after encountering a registration drive at an event. Some registration workers at the community activist group ACORN were accused in past years of submitting false forms with names like Mickey Mouse -- filings the group said were done by workers to increase their pay.

What makes the Voter Participation Center's work challenging is that the group is identifying voters based on data, instead of during in-person interactions. The mailings include pre-filled information that creates further confusion and concern, said Katie Blinn, a co-director of elections in Washington state.

Blinn said it appeared that many of the mailings were going to people who are already registered to vote. They have heard about a "handful" of pet-related forms in the state of the past few weeks and fielded calls from people wondering whether their registration was canceled.

Julie Anderson, the auditor in Pierce County, Wash., estimates that about two dozen residents have contacted the county about registration forms arriving for dead relatives.

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My 3 year-old daughter received one. What makes me sick of the politics in this country? Crap like this.

Yes, it's crap. If there are still people in this country that are unsure how to get registered to vote, then they should probably leave that decision making to the conscious. It's shot at you from every direction, every time elections roll around.

I would love to see the day that political advertisements on TV, print, yard signs and all this other crap that pollutes our lives banned.

The amount of money spent on campaigns could be used for so many greater purposes. Amazing how you have to squeeze blood from a turnip to get people to donate to charitable organizations that really need it, but they're more than happy to cut a check to someone they feel represents their rhetoric so that they can afford to travel 10,000 miles in a month to shove their name and agenda down voters' throats.

You know who i'll vote for? The candidate that comes to the surface of the race because of their altruism and honestly. Eff the rest of the self-centered, pandering wasters.

This country needs an enema.

-- Posted by Iceburg on Fri, Jul 13, 2012, at 11:09 PM

You need an ID to get through an airport, cash a check and get a library card, but not to vote????

Get a clue America. Its's not very hard to discourage voter fraud!!! Require proper ID for voting!!

-- Posted by Right Minded on Sat, Jul 14, 2012, at 8:23 AM

Right Minded you also need a picture ID to hear Holder's speech at the NAACP convention but he doesn't think you need one to vote.

-- Posted by Mowrangler on Sat, Jul 14, 2012, at 9:31 AM

But you've got to admit; deceased dogs are underrepresented in Washington. Maybe they need a lobbyist or two.

-- Posted by Professor_Bubba on Sat, Jul 14, 2012, at 4:54 PM

Lets all get behind required PHOTO ID'S. A person should be required to show his photo ID before they can vote in any election. Call and write your congressman and your senator. Demand they put this in affect for the Nov. 2012 election.